Le Crotoy on the Somme Bay

Monday, 28 August 2023 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
Reading Time:  5 minutes

Quai Courbet © Jean-Pol GRANDMONT/cc-by-sa-3.0

Quai Courbet © Jean-Pol GRANDMONT/cc-by-sa-3.0

Le Crotoy is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The inhabitants are known as Crotellois. Le Crotoy is situated on the D143 and D71 crossroads, on the eastern side of the Baie de Somme, some 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Abbeville. Today, the town is a seaside resort whose beach is one of its main assets. It is also close to Marquentera (Park of Marquenterre), an area with a number of lakes, marshes and habitat for flora and fauna. The beach is unusual for northern French beaches in that it faces south. In terms of wildlife, the bay supports a population of seals and shags.

Isabella of France, queen consort of England, and her son (later Edward III of England) embarked from Crotoy for Holland and then England in 1326, in order to overthrow her husband, and his father, Edward II. During the Hundred Years’ War the town was alternately under English and French control. Edward III stayed in Crotoy and in 1340 built a very important fortress. Besieged by the English, Crotoy, the last French position in the Bay of the Somme, surrendered on March 1, 1424. After the Battle of Verneuil, Jean II, Duke of Alençon was interned there for three years. Joan of Arc was imprisoned there before being taken to Rouen for trial. During these troubled times, Crotoy was the place of residence of a governor and a garrison. Jacques d’Harcourt was the most famous governor: he defended Crotoy boldly and courageously against the Anglo-Burgundian armies. An eponymous street pays homage to him in the city center. During the wars of religion, Crotoy took the side of Henri de Navarre. By an edict of 1594, Henri IV relieved the Crotellois from taxes. He stayed in the town on April 18, 1596. In 1674, under the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the castle of Crotoy was destroyed. Le Crotoy was also famous at the beginning of 20th century in the history of aviation, as the site of the Caudron brothers flying school.

Hotel Les Tourelles © Paul.schrepfer/cc-by-sa-4.0 Rue de l'église © Paul.schrepfer/cc-by-sa-4.0 Quai Courbet © Jean-Pol GRANDMONT/cc-by-sa-3.0 Beach huts © Donar Reiskoffer/cc-by-3.0 as seen from the beach © KGGucwa/cc-by-sa-3.0 Town hall © APictche/cc-by-sa-3.0
<
>
Hotel Les Tourelles © Paul.schrepfer/cc-by-sa-4.0
There are numerous restaurants in the village and it is well equipped with shops and a petrol station. Bed & Breakfast accommodation is also available. Le Crotoy is one terminus of the narrow gauge “Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme” (Somme Bay Railway), which is now largely a tourist attraction. Running around the entire length of the bay, this railway connects Le Crotoy with Noyelles-sur-Mer, Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, and Cayeux-sur-Mer and the sands at Brighton Plage. Main line trains to Paris take about 2 hours and cost about 48Euro return for an adult. They run from the nearby (15 mins by car) station of Noyelles-sur-Mer, which is also a station on the “Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme” narrow gauge railway. The bay of the river Somme has interesting tides in that they are both fast and have a high rise and fall. At low tide it is possible to walk across the sand and mud flats from Le Crotoy to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. Care needs to be taken as the tides come in very quickly.

Le Crotoy has had lengthy visits from some famous figures of French history: Joan of Arc (who was imprisoned there), Jules Verne (who wrote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea here), the perfumer Guerlain who has created in regard of the special shades of blue, purple, violet which cover bay at down his well-known perfume, “L’Heure Bleue “. Several painters as Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Signac, Pierre Risch, and the novelist Colette had also been charmed by Le Crotoy.

Read more on Wikipedia Le Crotoy (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

Lincoln, the county town of Lincolnshire

Lincoln, the county town of Lincolnshire

[caption id="attachment_153744" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Jew's House © Jungpionier[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England. The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Apulia - Bari

Theme Week Apulia - Bari

[caption id="attachment_203910" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Seafood Market © flickr.com - Italo Greco/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Bari is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the...

[ read more ]

Coral Gables in Florida

Coral Gables in Florida

[caption id="attachment_217211" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Biltmore Hotel © Ebyabe/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Coral Gables, officially the City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, located southwest of D...

[ read more ]

European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights

[caption id="attachment_161364" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Sfisek/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR; French: Cour européenne des droits de l’homme) is a supra-national or inte...

[ read more ]

Knights Templar and Friday the 13th

Knights Templar and Friday the 13th

[caption id="attachment_25716" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Order of Knights Templar in Europe around 1300 © Marco Zanoli/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Lat...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Dresden - The Frauenkirche

Theme Week Dresden - The Frauenkirche

[caption id="attachment_26689" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © flickr.com - Christian Prade/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Dresden Frauenkirche is a Lutheran church in Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony. A...

[ read more ]

Kitzbühel in Tyrol

Kitzbühel in Tyrol

[caption id="attachment_161074" align="aligncenter" width="590"] 2010 World Cup Hahnenkamm Race © Anonymous[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Kitzbühel is a small medieval town in Tyrol and the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel distri...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Tibet - Dharamsala

Theme Week Tibet - Dharamsala

[caption id="attachment_203576" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration © Bernard Gagnon/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Dharamshala is the district headquarters of Kangra district in ...

[ read more ]

Deshaies on Guadeloupe

Deshaies on Guadeloupe

[caption id="attachment_245732" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Hugo Elby/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Deshaies (Guadeloupean Creole: Déhé) is a commune in the French overseas region and department of Guadeloupe, in th...

[ read more ]

Museum Koenig Bonn

Museum Koenig Bonn

[caption id="attachment_236769" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Ursula Jünger/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Alexander Koenig Zoological Research Museum (German: Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, abbrevi...

[ read more ]

Theme Week China - Nanjing

Theme Week China - Nanjing

[caption id="attachment_201019" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Qinhuai River and Fuzimiao with Kuiguang Pavilion and Great Spirit Screen © flickr.com - SQFP/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Nanjing, formerly romanized as Nanking...

[ read more ]

Union for the Mediterranean

Union for the Mediterranean

[caption id="attachment_25380" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Union for the Mediterranean © NordNordWest/cc-by-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is a multilateral partnership of 43 countries from E...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top